Monday, October 6, 2014

Are you wearing the right decorations (and no more)?

A lieutenant-colonel in the Canadian Forces is standing trial on charges that she wore decorations to which she was not entitled. Details appear in this CKWS story:

"Her future in the military remains unclear. The presiding judge, Col. [Michael R.] Gibson, noted this is the second time [Lt. Col Deborah] Miller been disciplined for 'dishonesty' during her career… and that’s he was struggling to accept the plea bargain."

In my personal opinion, this seems more of an administrative lapse rather than intentional dishonesty. In fact, such an issue could have been resolved by asking her not to wear those medals or by way of issuance of a recordable or non-recorded warning letter or reproof. The sentence seems disproportionate keeping in view the fact that much higher cases of moral and intangible corruption go unnoticed in many military services.